Are You Sure You’re Not Some Kind of Devil?

"So, you want me to become a Son of Suffering," Wu Wang said. "What does it take to be considered one?"

The nun smiled.

"You will know when you can bring about a 【Miracle of Suffering】."

With that, she entered the town without a backward glance. This time, she paid no mind to whether Wu Wang was following.

After all, there was no way to escape. In seventy-two hours, they would both just wake up in the church again. The cycle would repeat, endlessly. They couldn't even escape this nightmare by taking their own lives.

This was the price she paid for once bringing about her own 【Miracle of Suffering】.

The thought made her expression grow even more forlorn. She sat alone on a bench in 【Dedication Square】, motionless as a stone statue.

Wu Wang didn't remain idle. He began to wander through the town.

The Merfolk appeared as usual. The woman slew them in sorrow.

Wu Wang quietly passed the shocking scene, moving on to observe the suffering in other households. He found himself in a bind.

His goal was to drag the 【Spirit Venerable of the Sea of Desire】 into this mess. To do that, he first had to understand the desires of the townsfolk and figure out how to make them change their faith. Only then could he bring the Mary to stir things up.

But to sway believers of 【Suffering】, he first needed to understand it himself. His knowledge of the 【Miracle of Suffering】 was incomplete. It seemed the miracle granted wishes in exchange for suffering, but what were its limits? What was the method? And what was the price?

He had to figure all of this out before he could hope to overthrow the Lord of Suffering.

Know your enemy, know yourself, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.

But that was the core of the problem.

Wu Wang couldn't feel 【Suffering】.

He took a small knife and began stabbing himself, dragging the blade across his skin as if playing a twisted violin.

This... doesn't count as Suffering? he wondered.

"But that woman triggered a 【Miracle of Suffering】 just by stabbing herself once, didn't she?"

He remembered the nun's words. Suffering was now so pervasive in the town that triggering a miracle had become much easier. Almost anyone could obtain one through self-mutilation.

And yet, he felt no special power.

His body trembled violently, muscles spasming from the agony. He was about to lose all his strength. Despite the clear physical reaction, Wu Wang simply didn't feel that it was particularly painful.

Helpless, he ended it with a final, fatal thrust.

After reviving, he walked to a bathroom, humming a cheerful little tune.

"The sun is high in the sky~ The flowers are smiling at me~"

"The little bird says good, good morning~ Why are you carrying a pack of dynamite~"

"I'm going to bomb the school~ The teacher doesn't know~"

"Classmates! Run, run, run!"

"With a boom, the school is gone~"

As he sang, he filled the bathtub with hot water. He lay down, slit the arteries in both wrists, and submerged them.

Closing his eyes, he let his mind drift back through his past. The water in the tub slowly turned from pale red to a deep crimson.

His body grew cold. His limbs went numb and trembled uncontrollably, as if he were at the North Pole. His mind, however, remained incredibly clear. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, a simple physiological response to blood loss.

If a quick death can't plunge me into Suffering, he thought, can a slow torture do the trick?

His life gradually drained away. The initial coldness gave way to numbness, and both his body and soul felt lighter and lighter.

After about ten minutes, he was hovering on the brink of shock.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, full of vigor.

His gaze fell upon the nun's helpless expression. He watched as she gently pierced her pale arm with a single fingernail.

"Except for the townsfolk, you and I cannot truly die," she reminded him. "We will just reappear in the church after seventy-two hours. Do you remember? Suicide is meaningless."

But Wu Wang's attention was fixed elsewhere. He stared intently at the nun's arm, at the tiny wound that was barely a scratch. Then he glanced at his own unblemished wrists and the clear water in the bathtub.

"Did you use a 【Miracle of Suffering】 to save me?" he asked doubtfully. "Is that your Suffering?"

The nun looked down, then nodded lightly.

"That's right. This is the power of Suffering."

What the hell? How is that fair?!

Here he was, stabbing himself and bleeding out in a bathtub, yet he couldn't feel the so-called 【Miracle of Suffering】 at all.

Meanwhile, she just pricked her arm with a fingernail and triggered a power that could instantly save someone who had nearly bled to death.

Why does the Lord of Suffering play favorites?

"I wasn't trying to commit suicide," he explained. "I was trying to seek 【Suffering】. This isn't my hometown. I can't empathize with the spiritual suffering here, so I figured physical pain might attract His attention."

An unnatural expression crossed the nun's face. She could sense that the man before her had a profound understanding of Suffering. So why couldn't he find it? Even if he couldn't feel the spiritual aspect, the physical pain should have elicited some kind of reaction.

Suddenly, she considered a strange possibility.

Frowning, she asked, "Answer me honestly. Was that your first time... doing something like that?"

Wu Wang fell silent.

Haha, let's not ask such awkward questions.

Of course it wasn't. If he didn't commit suicide on a regular basis, how could he be so skilled at it? He even knew to use hot water to accelerate blood flow and prevent clotting.

The nun seemed to have figured something out.

"If I asked you to devise a 【Miracle of Suffering】 to inflict on others, what would you come up with?" she asked again. "The premise is that there must be a price, which you also have to design."

A sharp glint flashed in Wu Wang's eyes. He answered almost instantly, without a moment's thought.

"That's easy. A miracle is like making a wish, right?"

He began. "First, everyone loses their four limbs. Second, everyone can feel phantom limbs. Third, everyone's phantom limbs constantly ache and itch."

After a brief pause, Wu Wang shrugged.

"Or, you could wish for a button that reveals the answer to any question when pressed. The price is the loss of your limbs and eyes."

He continued, a dark enthusiasm in his voice. "Bury it under a sidewalk. Everyone who steps on it will suddenly lose their limbs and eyes."

"Then they'll wonder, 'Holy shit! What just happened?'"

"The button will then tell them."

"They'll have lost their limbs and eyes for absolutely nothing."

He paused again, looking at the nun with a strangely embarrassed expression.

"And if possible, after they lose their limbs, you could repeat the phantom limb step from before."

"Of course, if you can't use miracles and just want to inflict pure physical pain..."

He rattled off a list. "Then the medieval head crusher, the Tucker telephone, flaying, anal impalement, the brazen bull, and the iron maiden are all excellent choices."

The nun was speechless. She sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead.

Why does he have no reaction when torturing himself, but become so animated when discussing how to torture others?

And how does he know so many methods?

What on earth goes on inside this man's head?

For a moment, she was at a complete loss for words. But she finally understood why he couldn't attract the attention of Suffering.

After taking a deep breath, she said helplessly, "My Lord's gaze is drawn in two ways. One is through the self-inflicted Suffering practiced by the residents of this town."

"The other is through being a missionary. Spreading Suffering can also attract His attention."

She looked at him. "You... are perhaps more suited for the latter."

The moment her words fell, Wu Wang's eyes went blank. A sinister aura emanated from him.

Just by standing next to him, the nun felt a wave of despair and pain well up from deep within. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

She gasped, her voice choked with shock. "【Audience】!?"

She recognized this vacant state instantly. She had experienced it once before, back when she became a survivor on the Day of Extinction. When she triggered a 【Miracle of Suffering】 and became the high priestess, she was granted a single Audience.

But now, this Outlander had attracted the Lord's attention merely by thinking about how to spread Suffering.

Does that mean he was genuinely considering the methods he just described?

The nun's expression grew complex. She suddenly felt that she hadn't discovered a Son of Suffering.

She had found a human devil.

My Lord had once made her a promise.

Find the Son of Suffering, and you can escape this endless cycle.

So now, could a devil end her Suffering?

Yes. She wanted to end this Suffering.

She… was not devout at all.